Thursday, July 11, 2013

My second great grandfather was born on 11 July 1840 and I'd like to remember his birthday with this photo of the Watch Hill Light in Westerly, RI that he mailed in 1906. They called him Capt. Jim because of his love of the sea and he could be found in his boat called the Triumph gathering seaweed for manure.

Although he was not a sea captain, he is pivotal in the "Summer of the Sea Captains" because his family is the reason I decided to blog about this for my summer postings.

(I recently have new information about his son who mysteriously lived with Sea Captain: Capt. Palmer Hall of Westerly)

One of his diaries during the Civil War is held in the Special Collections at the Providence Public Library. It is transcribed here.

Very little of it is personal information but it is very valuable for the dates and places he was during the War. But, today, I would like you to see what he wrote on his 22nd birthday.

Friday July 11th 1862

The weather is pleasent [pleasant] and this is my bearth day [birthday] the 22d one that ive [I’ve] seen and it is pleas [pleasant] day to me the birds are singing sweet and gay every thing is quiet here we have no news from the enemy.

2 comments:

Midge: That photo brings back some memories! My father spent many summers in his youth at Pt. Judith and many years later when my aunt, his sister, had cottages at Pt. Judith, we spent several summer visits there. A trip to the Pt. Judith lighthouse was almost an obligatory part of each visit and I recall at least one visit over to Watch Hill too! :-) Also, as a kid I used to explore in the abandoned WWII bunkers and gun batteries at Pt. Judith that were still open to such exploration before becoming part of Fisherman's Memorial Park around 1970 or so I think.